19. 3. 2024 Seminar of Accidental Wisdom: Cristiana Sorrentino
seminar of accidental wisdom: Cristiana Sorrentino
19. 3. 2025
Magazines as Visual Training Ground:
The Reception of Photographic Modernism in the Italian Photographic Culture
This lecture by Dr Cristiana Sorrentino will explore the reception of European photographic Modernism within the context of Italian photographic culture in the 1920s and 1930s. The absence in Italy of an avant-garde movement capable of systematically defining the visual experiences of modernity prompted authors to adopt and reinterpret the ideas of the New Vision and New Objectivity, primarly thanks to the circulation of
photographic images in Italian magazines. The methodological approach underpinning this research considers periodicals as primary sources for studying Italian visual culture in the interwar period. Particular consideration will be given to magazines not specifically devoted to photography but focused on other
thematic and creative domains (such as graphic design, typography, scientific dissemination, and so forth). In addition to promoting international languages, acting as visual training grounds for being familiar with European models, these periodicals served as platforms for some of the most compelling reflections on photographic modernity within the Italian context.
Cristiana Sorrentino holds a PhD in History of Photography and is an adjunct lecturer in History of Photography and Visual Culture at the University of Florence. She has been a research fellow and collaborator with various public and private Italian institutions. Her work includes the inventorying and cataloguing of photographic collections. From 2022 to 2024, she served as a member of the editorial board of RSF. Rivista di studi di fotografia.
The lecture is organized in collaboration with the Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences and PhotoMatrixProject.
https://www.udu.cas.cz/
https://photomatrix.cz/